Used To You
by Sumarfishy
Summary: AU Highschool – Naruto, now 17, is the best soccer player his school has to offer… until someone named Uchiha Sasuke moves into the neighborhood. [Pairings: "SasuNaru", SasuNaruSaku, ItaNaru, ShikaIno, and more - hey, it's highschool XD]
1. The New boy

**Title: **Used to You

**Author:** JaD

**Email:**

**Website:** bakadotyondaimedotnet

**Rating:** R

**Pairings:** Many, probably mostly SasuNaruSaku junk.

**Disclaimer:** Narutoverse belongs to Kishimoto Masashi.

**Synop** AU Highschool – Naruto, now 17, is the best soccer player his school has to offer… until someone named Uchiha Sasuke moves into the neighborhood. All characters properly assigned to their appropriate cliché.

**Fore notes: **This is all ochiba-sama's fault. I blame her, deny everything and apologize ahead of time.

Title taken from a song by **Ani**** DiFranco**, "_Used to You_:"

_I'm still here because   
__I've got nothing else to do   
__You're an asshole,   
but I'm getting used to you.   
__You like me so   
you try and make me feel like shit   
__I think it's kind of funny   
yeah, I kind of enjoy it   
__And for all your talk   
you don't say much that's real   
__I think I know more than you   
about the way that you feel   
__I understand your anger and your apathy   
__I think if I was you, you're just who I'd be _

_- - -_

**Chapter One:** The New Boy

  
_Despite our artistic pretensions,   
__sophistication__ and accomplishments,   
__we__ still owe our existence   
__to__ a six-inch layer of topsoil   
__and__ the fact that it rains   
_**- Attributed to a Chinese text   
****(via Susan Todd)**

_"Reality continues to ruin my life."   
_**- Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes**

- - - -

Konoha College was the most esteemed senior high school the state had to offer, and considering the average grade-point average was a 3.7, it was nothing short of a miracle the boy Uzumaki Naruto made it inside. It wasn't that he wasn't intelligent enough, and he was anything but unmotivated; Naruto was just the opposite of anything you'd expect to find in a highly acclaimed institution. Loud, obnoxious, untidy and rambunctious, Naruto had attitude of a typical five year old and about three times as much energy. If not for the obvious favoritism displayed by one of the faculty and their power on the admissions board, Naruto would probably be attending some middle-class high school somewhere downtown.

Naruto really didn't care. School was school – somewhere you went at ungodly hours in the morning, were preached at for seven long hours, ate alien mush for food and ran away from when the bell of freedom rang. In fact, Naruto cared so little for school, that if it wasn't for soccer practice everyday (and halfway decent grades to stay on the team), he probably wouldn't have gone at all.

There was one other reason, however, that Naruto didn't mind school all that much.

"Hey, Sakura-chan!"

Haruno Sakura was in the same year of school as Naruto (and, that said, in most of his classes) and it couldn't have made her more miserable. He seemed to be particularly obsessed with her; out of all of the pretty girls in their class, _why her?_ She thought she was average in everything, looks included. Her grades were perhaps the only exceptional thing about her, and she had a good guess it wasn't her intellect that was demanding Naruto's attention.

_Maybe it's my hair,_ she thought dully. Doubtful, but if dying her hair some normal color (even if pink suited the essence of her name) would make him go away, she would have done it in a heartbeat.

"You're so loud. I'm right beside you, you know," she remarked briskly, quickening her pace.

Naruto had to trot to keep up. He didn't seem to notice.

"Heh, sorry. Anyway, um, you know that homework for history? See, I had this accident on the way to school today and I--"

"No, Naruto, you can not copy mine. Do your own homework!"

"I _did!_ I told you, I had a run-in with--"

"I don't care if the Devil himself ate your homework, you are not looking at mine! Shoo!"

A bit pouty but not nearly as discouraged as Sakura would have liked to have seen, Naruto stopped trotting and Sakura disappeared behind a crowd of people. _Well, that went better than yesterday…_ Grinning and no worse for the wear, Naruto turned around and headed back towards the lockers. If he was lucky, Mr. Whats-his-name would forget that they even had homework today. Naruto had to briefly appreciate school uniforms, though; granted, he hated wearing his, but seeing Sakura-chan in a short skit everyday was more than enough to improve the worst of moods.

If he had been looking instead of thinking about skirts, Naruto _might_ not have walked into Hyuuga Neji. The boy was a senior, one year above him, and had a severe attitude problem. Or perhaps lack of one. Naruto wasn't sure, but he was sure of one thing: the guy was a _prick_.

"Watch it, loser."

"Screw you, egghead," Naruto shot back, only to be disappointed once again. Neji may have been a prick, but he was a damn boring one. Naruto tried and tried and tried to provoke the bastard into a fight, just to prove his worthlessness, but Neji remained unbaited. He didn't seem to care enough to fight anyone, or date anyone, or even socialize with anyone. Yet somehow he was one of the more popular guys in school (so very unlike the blonde), but that was probably due to poor tastes of girls and the fact that Neji was, perhaps, the 'second' best player on his team. Neji played goalie, though, which presented Naruto with very little competition – he did all of his work out on the field where he knew everybody could see him.

"Why don't you just hit him and get it over with?"

Probably one of Naruto's best friends and not bad with a soccer ball himself, Inuzuka Kiba was also a junior, loud, hyperactive and about as thrilled about schoolwork as any other seventeen year-old. He also had a weird fixation with canines. A small runt of a dog named Akamaru had followed him home one day to a house already full of animals and had subsequently became his companion, and continued to follow him to school everyday. Kiba would go outside and eat lunch with him and always brought him to soccer practice. Akamaru had recently taken to running around behind the goal net and barking at Neji during their warm-ups.

"What? Then take the blame? I spend enough time in detention, no thanks."

"Well maybe if you two would shut up and learn to _sleep_ through class instead of yack, you wouldn't _get_ detention."

Shikamaru was easily summed up into one word: lazy. Naruto still couldn't understand why – when Shikamaru had any reason to be motivated (which was about as common as girls asking Naruto out on a date) he was easily the smartest person in the school. He was _brilliant_. His test scores were the highest in the school, yet his grades continued to droop because of lack of participation and his tendency to never turn in homework. Whenever counselors and teachers tried to ask him why, they all got the same answer:

"It's too troublesome."

"_You_ are too troublesome, you never want to do anything," Kiba said, shaking his head. "How do you live, Shika? Everything bores you. That would drive me _insane_, being bored and sleeping all the time."

They were eventually joined by a short boy slightly on the portly side known as Chouji. Shikamaru was closer to him than either Kiba or Naruto was, but he was still a good friend to everyone in the group. All four troublemakers now gathered they wandered idly down the hall heading towards their first class.

"I hate math," Naruto grumbled.

"Math hates you," Kiba said, grinning at him.

"Math isn't so bad," Shikamaru said, "It makes more sense than anything else they teach here."

"That's why it SUCKS," Naruto gagged, looking grim, "I can't ever prove it wrong or that it's completely useless and therefore not worth learning. That damned Iruka-sensei _always_ gets around those."

"That's because you're full of shit, Naruto."

"That's not a problem as long as nobody can prove it; which is again, why I hate math."

"That's rich," Kiba was laughing at him now, "You know we have a test today, right?"

Naruto almost tripped and fell over. "WHAT?!"

- - - - -

Sakura sighed in relief as Naruto gave up his chase. When would that boy get a clue? Sure, he was kinda cute… not to mention the _best_ soccer player in their district… but he was _Naruto_. _And_ blonde.

"Oi, Sakura! You're going to be late _again,_" Ino remarked from inside the classroom door down the hall, "That head of yours too heavy to carry or what? Hurry up!"

Sakura hated blondes.

"It was Naruto," she gasped, trotting inside. Ino raised and eyebrow. "You know how stupid he is, trying to talk to me when class is about to start. Something about history homework…"

Ino followed her to their seats, which were side by side near the front and situated in the middle of the room. "He just really likes you. I don't know why you're so mean to him. He's actually kind of—"

"Cute?" Ten-Ten was sitting down already, in the other seat beside Sakura, "Yeah, everybody thinks so. He's kind of cute -- until he opens his mouth."

"Exactly," Sakura sat down, grateful to have someone on her side. "Besides, I'm saving myself."

Both girls looked at her with raised brows. "Oh? Who?"

The girl shrugged. "Dunno. Definitely not Naruto, though."

The girls' conversation came to an end as the said blonde and his pack of three buddies piled into the room earning a glare from the teacher for almost being late. Sakura winced inwardly as Naruto winked at her on his way past, making Ino grin at her sideways in mock empathy. The four of them took their respective seats by the windows in the back of the room.

"Now that we're all finally here," Iruka-sensei cast another dagger in Naruto's general vicinity, "I would like to make an announcement before I hand out the tests. Due to the recent 'incident' at a residential private school, many students are being transferred into neighboring colleges until further notice. We've been lucky enough to become the host of several of these students, one of which will be joining your class today."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. A new kid? School had only begun two weeks ago, but it was still odd… she had never met a transfer student before.

"_As long as it's male and cute, I really don't care_," she heard Ino mutter under her breath.

_Amen_, Sakura thought.

"So in other words, I want you all to be on your best manners and welcome him like any other peer," Iruka-sensei waved inwards to the door.

A tall boy entered the room, and Sakura's immediate thought was_, wow, he's pale._

When he turned around to face the class, nearly half the girls dropped whatever it was they were holding and stopped in mid-chatter to gape.

Sakura's second thought (which came less than 0.3 nanoseconds later) was: _he's **mine**_.

- - - - -

"Uchiha Sasuke will be joining us for the remainder of the semester. Please see that you all make it a _good_ semester," Iruka's last remark seemed to be directly in particular to a certain blonde, who blinked stupidly at the dark haired boy in the front of the room.

"Who's the pretty boy?"

"The new kid."

"I don't like him."

"You haven't even met him yet, Naruto!" Kiba shook his head, "Or is it because your girl is eying him?"

"Huh?" Naruto looked at the back of Sakura's head, then narrowed his eyes when he saw where she was staring, "Oh _hell_ no."

Shikamaru sighed and laid his head in his arms, "Here we go."

Uchiha Sasuke must have been lacking instinct, because instead of sitting somewhere up front and out of Naruto's reach, he came right past them and sat in the very last seat behind him.

Naruto turned around in his seat, "Who invited you?"

"Your mom," Sasuke didn't even look at him, and gazed out the window, looking very bored.

"You wanna say that to my face, you—" Before Naruto could get up, Kiba held him down and stepped on his foot. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to keep Iruka-sensei from noticing them.

"Naruto, what is it now?" Noticing where Sasuke had taken a seat, Iruka mistook the blonde's intentions and smiled happily. "I'm glad you're trying to be friendly, but please save it for after class. With the temporary dismissal of his school, Sasuke's soccer activities were also put to a halt – but our principal has been kind enough to instate him onto our team for the time being as a temp—"

"WHAT?!"

"—You will have plenty of time to get to know him at practice, I'm sure. So please be silent and put all of your books away, it's time to begin the exam." 

* * *

…to be continued. 

**A/N:** I know, it's barely 2,000 words… just sort of a teaser, I guess I plan to keep this one much shorter and simpler than **_Memory Yields_**, but hopefully at least 3,000 words a chapter after this. This spawned after a talk to collab with Ochiba-sama about making an AU Highschool SasuNaruSaku fic… her idea was MUCH different from mine, so I agreed to do both X3 This one is solely my own work, she just served the initial inspiration. Look forward to her (much EVILER, may I add ) version soon, as well as Chapter Two of **_Memory Yields_**.

Please visit http:bakadotyondaimedotnet for the completely unedited (ie, the NC-17 chapters that will be edited for FFnet) version of all of my works


	2. The Opinion of the Uchiha

**Title: **Used to You

**Author:** JaD

**Email:** jad(at)yondaime(dot)net

**Website: **baka(dot)yondaime(dot)net

**Rating:** R

**Pairings:** SasuNaru, SasuNaruSaku

**Disclaimer:** Narutoverse belongs to Kishimoto Masashi.

**Synop:** AU Highschool – Naruto, now 17, is the best soccer player his school has to offer… until someone named Uchiha Sasuke moves into the neighborhood. All characters properly assigned to their appropriate cliché.

**Fore notes: **This fic is dedicated to **ochiba** and **Saori-Hime**. Ochiba for inspiring it, and saori because every word I write reminds me of her :3

Title taken from a song by **Ani DiFranco**, "_Used to You_," see Chapter One for lyrics.

**_Kikei_** is another form for "older brother;" when I asked about it, I was told it was used more like "hey _YOU_, my older brother" sort of thing, and I think it was more appropriate for Sasuke to use at the time rather than the typical _aniki_ and _oniisan_. And yes, I will write this fic using Japlish (Jap Eng) because shouting "Brother!" and "Idiot" all the time just seems so… weird. Deal.

- - - -

**Chapter Two:** the Opinion of the Uchiha

  
_Even more exasperating than the guy who thinks he knows it all,  
__is the one who really does._  
**–Unknown**

_"My behavior is addictive functioning in a disease process of toxic codependency!  
__I need holistic healing and wellness before I'll accept any responsibilities for my actions!"  
_**- Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes**

- - - -

Lunch had become a convention of freshman to senior girls forming a meeting that could have been entitled "The Opinion of the Uchiha" around the circular table that was frequently the outside eating area of the more popular students. Personal status seemed to have been forgotten temporarily as the hoard of females ranging from geek to Goth to beauty queen all agreed on one thing.

Sasuke was **_hot_**.

"He's _mine_ is what he is," Sakura said affirmatively.

Ino pursed her lips. Sakura knew she wanted to challenge that but, unfortunately for Ino, Shikamaru had actually come to sit with them for lunch and she knew the girl wouldn't openly declare her intentions for Sasuke while he was around. They weren't really dating – very few people in high school actually did – but Shikamaru had become somewhat of an off-and-on boyfriend to Sakura's best-friend/worst-competitor. Shikamaru wasn't exactly the hottest guy in school, but he _was_ a genius – and according to Ino's reports, in many more ways than one.

"He's the only student they sent here."

"Huh. Wonder why."

"Who cares?"

"Well if the Uchiha boys are _all_ that hot…"

"Was it a private school?"

"Think so."

"What happened?"

"Dunno."

"Somebody should ask him."

"Don't look at me; my hair is a _mess_ today. I'll talk to him tomorrow."

"Are you kidding? Paul would _kill_ me if he saw me over there…"

"I'll go."

Sakura stood up, smirked purposely at Ino, and walked off. She made her trail look careless, but it was oddly directed at the pale boy sitting alone under a willow tree at the end of the grounds. Inhaling quickly and tucking her pink strands behind her ear, Sakura took the last few steps and sat in the grass beside him.

Sasuke merely glanced at her out of the corner of his eye before focusing back on the horizon. Sakura smiled angelically at him.

"Hello."

Sasuke responded with a grunt.

"Haruno Sakura," she held out a hand, which he eyed but did not take, "I'm in the same class."

"Uchiha--"

"Sasuke, yes, I know."

Sasuke looked a little agitated when cut off, but didn't say anything else.

"So… um," Sakura cleared her throat politely and retracted her hand, "My friends and I were wondering, what happened at your old school? That they had to send you here, I mean?"

Sasuke was quiet a long moment.

"…it's not that we don't _want_ you here, we were just curious…"

"They were killed."

Sakura blinked.

"What?"

Sasuke turned his face halfway to look at her.

He didn't look upset, or remorseful, or… anything.

"I said they were killed. They're all dead."

Sakura just stared as Sasuke stood up and walked away.

Returning to the table, a shaken Sakura was immediately bombarded.

"What did he say?"

"Did you see the way he _looked_ at you?! Oh my god!"

"Did he tell you what happened?"

"Let the girl breathe!"

"Thank you, Ino…" Sakura whispered, "No, he didn't say."

A few girls pouted. Ten-Ten shrugged.

"Who cares why, so long as he's here?"

Sakura sighed and stared at the table as the giggling began all over again.

- - - -

Naruto had refused to sit with Shikamaru. He was close to Sakura, but that also made him close to her and every other girl fawning over Sasuke. Ino wouldn't say a word if Shika was there, maybe, but Naruto knew better. Sakura wouldn't give half a shit if he was there or not.

"I don't know why you're worried about it. The guy's obviously an asshole. They'll learn."

Kiba had gladly accompanied Naruto to a bench on the rim of the grounds, tossing Akamaru scraps from lunch as the dog ran back and forth outside the fence surrounding the school. Naruto appreciated the company, and the obvious effort to cheer him up; it just wasn't _working_.

"They're _girls_, Kiba. You could beat them and starve them and chain them to the bed, so long as you're the hottest guy in the world they won't care."

Kiba winced. "I don't think he's _that_ much of an asshole."

Naruto 'humph-ed' and threw himself down on the grass. He didn't want to watch Sakura and the other girls drool over the new kid. Kiba sighed and arranged himself next to Naruto.

"Look, it's the new-guy syndrome. Once it wears off no one will care who he is or where he's from--"

"Or how fucking '_HOT_' he is, I suppose?"

"Well," Kiba said, "That really can't be helped, can it?"

"Sure it can. I can help it by beating his face in with a brick."

"He can't help the way he looks, Naruto."

Naruto did not like logic. "I hate him for existing."

"Do you have any idea how childish you sound?"

"Yep. Watch me not care."

Kiba sighed again and laid his head in his arms. "Going to practice?"

"Of course," Naruto rolled over, lying on his back and staring up at the clouds, "I'm hoping I can hit him hard enough in the temple with the ball to kill him and make it look like an accident."

- - - -

"He's late."

"_Again._"

Their coach had a long history of tardiness, even when they had major games, so his lateness came of little surprise. Sasuke may have been the only one expecting him on-time, but he didn't seem bothered by the fact that his new coach had yet to show up.

"Screw this, gimme the ball," Naruto (who was sitting on the opposite side of the bench from Sasuke) jumped down onto the grass and caught the ball Kiba tossed him. Turning around and walking backwards, Naruto fixed his gaze on their new member. "Come on, Uchiha; let's see what you've got."

Sasuke, who had his arms balanced on his knees and was holding his head up with crossed hands, eyed Naruto without moving.

Naruto twirled the ball on his index finger, balancing it perfectly, and raised an eyebrow. "Scared?"

That seemed like enough prodding; Sasuke stood up and stretched briefly before walking slowly onto the field, the rest of the soccer team watching apprehensively.

Naruto grinned. "Neji, take the net."

"Naruto, is this really--"

"If you won't do it, then Kiba will. Someone take the goddamn net."

Rolling his eyes, Neji got up and trotted over to the goal. Bright sapphire stayed locked onto dark coal the entire time. Naruto came to a halt in the middle of the field, finally ceasing the ball from its spin. Sasuke stopped a few feet in front of him and regarded him coolly.

"Ready to get your ass kicked?"

Sasuke blinked at him.

"Uzumaki, right?"

Naruto blinked back.

"What of it?"

A smirk.

"I've seen you play before."

"Then you know what you've got coming to you."

A scoff.

"I could play you with my eyes closed."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "I'd like to see you try."

"Then what are you waiting for?"

Naruto threw the ball in the air with a strong upward motion of his arm. Both boys watched each other's eyes as gravity took its toll on the ball, bringing it back down to the earth between them.

Naruto almost thought—_almost_—that Sasuke let him get to the ball first. _Nah_, he thought,_ he's just full of shit, can't even play me one-on-one._ Large, feral smirk in place, the blonde maneuvered the ball toward the net with effortless ease. It was a movement he was used to; he was faster then most of the people on his team, and it was common knowledge that once Naruto had the ball, no one was going to get it off him until he tried (and usually succeeded) to make a goal.

Thus, it was quite a surprise for many (Naruto included) when the ball disappeared from under his feet in an unnaturally strong swoosh of air.

_What the fuck?_

Naruto's head snapped to his left; there was Sasuke, dashing towards the net with his ball. _His_ ball.

_How the hell?! No **way** anybody is that fast!_

Gritting his teeth and the sudden uproar of shouts from the rest of his team, Naruto sped up his pace and homed in on the dark figure ahead. He managed to get ahead by just a few feet, and Naruto dropped to the ground, balancing on his hands, bringing his body almost parallel to the ground and kicking the ball sideways as it went past. Sasuke jumped over his kick, saving being tripped and changed direction. Naruto was up on his feet and after him in half a second; opposite legs kicked at the flying ball, smacking it between their calves and causing a jolt of pain to shoot up both their legs due to the force of the kick.

"Asshole," Naruto spat.

"Loser," Sasuke smirked back at him, and before Naruto could retort, the Uchiha had vanished beneath him, off with the ball again.

_His_ ball.

"_Goddammit_," Naruto hissed, taking off again.

- - - - -

"Where the hell do they practice again?"

"Um… behind the school, isn't it?"

"How should I know? I've never gone to practice before."

_Oh for crying out loud_, Hinata sighed, shaking her head, "It's this way."

Being Kiba's 'sorta' girlfriend and her secret adoration of Naruto had led to Hinata to spending a lot of time at the soccer practices. In fact, that's how she'd met Kiba. She had been trying to look innocent while watching Naruto play one day about a year ago when Kiba passed him the ball and sprained his ankle badly. He was out in the far end of the field and no one immediately noticed he'd been hurt. Hinata had climbed over the fence and helped him to his feet and supported him while he limped over to the bench. She had been thrilled at first – as soon as Naruto noticed Kiba'd been hurt he came running over and made sure he hadn't broke anything, and then thanked Hinata for helping him out. She remember it clearly; it was the first time Naruto had ever said anything to her, much less looked at her purposely.

As time went on, however, Hinata noticed more details about Naruto. He had grown so used to being used and disliked that it seemed he was unable to comprehend that someone might actually want to be more than just his friend. She'd tried; as shy as she was, she'd even gone as far as to ask _him_ out. He'd accepted, somewhat apprehensively, and the date had gone rather well. Naruto had paid for everything, bought her ice cream afterwards and been an angel the whole time. She'd never been so happy. The next day, though, was as if nothing between them had changed. Once Kiba had started hitting on her, even if Naruto may have decided she might actually like him, the blonde seemed to deduce that he'd been used once again. Naruto hardly talked to her anymore.

She led the small posse of girls (consisting of Sakura, Ino, and two seniors, Ten-Ten and Ami) to the fields put aside for soccer uses. As they trotted up to the border of the green grass, they noticed two figures out on the field already.

"Is that--?"

"Oh, Naruto, you idiot."

"He's such a show off."

Sakura squinted at the play between the two boys and smirked.

"I wouldn't say that. Sasuke has the ball."

Suddenly, all eyes were drawn to the two boys and the girls were effectively silenced. Naruto _always_ had the ball. Sakura watched carefully as Naruto continued to catch up with Sasuke, intercept, but somehow Sasuke always managed to get out of it with the ball at his feet. Naruto was doing a good job keeping him out of range of the net, but Sasuke was the one leading the dance. Naruto looked like he was having trouble keeping up with the rapid movements Sasuke was making, dancing in and out of Naruto's attempts to folly him again and again like he was made of wind.

"Wow," Ino said appreciatively. "He's really good."

"Yeah," Sakura said breathlessly. He _was_ really good, to keep Naruto on his feet like that. But Sakura had watched with worried eyes. Her conversation with him from earlier still hung in her mind.

_They're all dead. _

That had to be some sort of cruel joke. Even if it was a small, private, family-oriented school… such an accident would have certainly become public knowledge. An entire school population could not just disappear like that.

It was just a cruel joke. It had to be.

The way Sasuke had looked at her… could he have been lying?

"Oh my god, he's gonna score!"

Sakura's eyes snapped back to the soccer field. Sasuke had just got in a lucky kick when he had managed to get within range of the net. Several girls groaned as Neji easily blocked the shot and the ball sped back towards the open field to be picked up by Naruto.

- - - -

Not half a second later, the blonde sent the ball flying back towards the net. Neji cringed as the ball flew towards him. Sasuke's ball was easy enough to block… but Naruto kicked like a kangaroo and were well known for being the breaker of many bones. If he was smart, he wouldn't even try to block it…

He soon realized he wouldn't have to. Sasuke, who had been much closer to the net, got between the ball's projectile and the goal, turned up into a handstand and kicked the ball straight up as it came, flipped back onto one foot as the ball returned to earth and gave it a solid kick in the same direction Naruto had sent it.

It happened so fast Neji didn't even have time to _think_ about block. The ball hit the back of the net with a flop and bounced lifelessly to the ground.

Naruto looked like he was going to spontaneously combust on the spot.

_"What the **fuck** was that?!"_

Neji groaned. This was somehow going to be his fault. He was sure of it.

"Neji!! You asshole, you didn't even _try_ to block that!"

Sasuke sneered from where he stood, panting and sweating like a dog, but otherwise composed. "What's a matter, loser, can't take the heat?"

"Fuck you! That was _my_ goal!"

"Funny, it looked a lot like mine."

"ARG!" Naruto had trotted up to Sasuke and had a good means to sock him in the jaw, but a loud whistle pulled him to a halt. Angry, tousled blonde locks swayed as his head turned towards the noise. A tall, grey-haired man had appeared by the rest of the team back at the bench.

"Naruto, stop being so loud and get your ass in here. You know the rules. No field play without a coach."

"Kakashi-sensei!! You were LATE!"

"You say that like you have a point."

Naruto was about to tell his sensei where he planned to shove his point when Kiba cut him off with a quick shake of his head and a strong hand on his shoulder. Naruto ground his teeth together and bit back on his pride… Kiba was right, it wasn't worth it. Challenging Kakashi usually only led to two things; embarrassment and pain – lots of it.

Once the team had assembled into what was almost a group, Kakashi looked them over quietly, studying them with his one visible eye. He wore a shaded spectacle over the other one, and the lens was so dark it was impossible to tell what lay behind it. He was tall, built strong, a natural athlete; word had it that Kakashi had played pro for several sports for quite some time before retiring despite his young age. Naruto had never bothered to find out why.

The lone silver orb found what it was looking for. "You," Sasuke raised his head at the voice as if he knew it was directed at him, "Come here."

Winding through the group of boys, Sasuke came to stand before his new coach with a bored look on his face.

"Uchiha Sasuke?"

Sasuke merely looked at him.

"I was going to find out if you were really as good as they say you are, but Naruto took care of that for me already--" Naruto's glare seared through Kakashi's skull at his words, "—so I think I know what to do with you. Kitakawa's out on injury, you'll make an ideal replacement. However…"

Kakashi looked at Naruto, then back at Sasuke, and smirked.

"If anything should happen to Naruto, I'm replacing Kiba with you as his backup. Kiba, you will take Sasuke's place if Naruto's unable to play."

Kiba and Naruto both assaulted him with identical shouts, "WHAT?!"

- - - - -

Kakashi may have not been punctual, but he was damn hard to persuade and positively impossible to argue with. When he decided to do something, very few things could alter that decision. At the end of the hour and a half practice, Naruto was a very sore, very bitter, very _dirty_ little junior.

"I hate him," he seethed, wiping the sweat and dirt off his forehead with the back of his hand, smearing it in his sun lighted bangs, "Who the hell does he think he is, just barging in on us like this… he's got no fucking right to be on this team…"

Kiba was already panting from exhaustion, and Naruto's attitude wasn't helping any.

"Why don't you just give the guy a break? He's being an asshole but fuck, Naruto, so are _you_. Why not try being civil with him? He can't possibly be _that_ bad…"

A sharp beep of a horn broke the silence. Heads turned to see where the noise had come from and all talking and shuffling immediately ceased as about two dozen teenaged boys felt the crushing of their egos. The car wasn't obnoxiously flashy; any idiot may have dismissed it for some old hotrod. But anyone with any sort of interest in vehicles (mainly, high school-aged boys) knew what it was immediately.

It was an older model, and that only added to the hotness that was the GTO rumbling outside the fence next to the field. The body paint consisted mostly of black, with tasteful lining of chrome and fire-engine red, which matched the red leather interior Naruto could see through the passenger side window. The tires were about twice the size they should have been, with silver hubcaps so polished that the sun was blinding off them. Looking closer, Naruto noticed something else that made the car even cooler: it was a soft top – a freaking' _convertible_.

Naruto felt his heart sink into his stomach when the driver – who everyone had ignored up to this point – stepped out of the still-running automobile.

"Yo, Sasuke, I don't have all goddamned day. It's five already, move your ass."

The voice was soft but the words were anything but. Same hair, same skin, same sharp chin… only this boy—no, man—was taller than Sasuke, and his hair was longer as well. Although they shared the same spiky bangs, this taller version of Sasuke had his hair drawn back into a low ponytail that hung over the collar of his black jacket. Naruto guessed they had the same eyes as well, but he could hardly tell; dark sunglasses hid the man's gaze from view.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming. Coach was late," Sasuke trotted over and jumped the fence, somehow considerably less dirty than the rest of them (Naruto doubted anyone would let someone as dirty as him into such a car).

"Who's that?" Naruto asked cynically to no one in particular.

Sasuke ignored him, but his chauffeur cocked his head in the blonde's direction. Sunglasses slid down a porcelain nose and stopped just short of letting anyone see his eyes. Before Naruto could ask him directly, Sasuke stuck his head out the passenger-side window.

"Kikei! I thought you were late?"

_Kikei?_

Naruto saw the eyebrows narrow before the taller man shoved his glasses back into place with his hand and dropped back inside the vehicle. Sasuke, noticing Naruto's obvious jealousy, smirked knowingly before the car roared to life as a foot pressed on the gas pedal and rumbled out of the parking lot.

If Naruto thought Sasuke had made the girls swoon, he hadn't seen anything yet. They had piled into the bleachers not too long ago to watch the practice (or more precisely, Sasuke) and seemed to have all acquired a new thing in common: Sasuke was hot, but his older brother was sex **god** Even Hinata was gaping.

"Okay, I take it back," Kiba said, laying a hand on Naruto's shoulder, "Fuck him. He really _is_ that bad."

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A/N: … and cue the end of chapter two. Brought to you with double the words of chapter one! Now I know everybody's first thought is "WTF is the deal with Itachi picking Sasuke up?" yah yah yah, I have their relationship planned out, it's not nearly as innocent as it seems. Itachi is still the evil, cold, psychopathic bastard he is in cannon. He's just cooler about it now, mostly because he has a GTO. You _know_ he would have a GTO. And now I go to update Memory Yields before I even think about beginning chapter three for this baby or I'll have sasunaru-fangirl mobs out for my blood --;

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